January Column

As the MSP for the Angus South Constituency I am well sighted on the impact of Brexit locally.

The loss of approaching £2million a year in European Union funding for Dundee and Angus College, the threat over access to an essential migrant workforce for our soft fruit sector, the continuing uncertainty over the rights and status of around 2000 EU nationals who have made their home in the county are just some examples of this.

The EU is by no means perfect, I understand why people may have felt it appropriate to vote leave, but my view has always been that we are far better being inside it than outside.

And that opinion has only been reinforced by meetings I’ve had, as Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee in Brussels and Westminster and with our sister Welsh Assembly committee.

Learning from officials representing non European Union countries about how they are able to engage with the EU, brought home to me just how difficult it will likely be for the UK’s interests as what is known as a “third country” to be taken account of.

And whether in or out of the EU we will continue to engage with it on many levels.

The ramifications of Brexit and the EU Withdrawal Bill, as it stands, have potentially very damaging consequences for Scotland.

By way of just one small example, the precautionary and polluter pays principles, which have provided vital environmental safeguards, are not to be transposed from EU into UK law-something we discovered is causing Welsh committee counterparts considerable concern-as it should be all of us.

The recent unanimous report from the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Constitution Committee into the EU Withdrawal Bill and its potential harmful impact on the devolution settlement and Scotland’s interests was welcome both for its content and the fact it was signed up to by MSPs of all parties. I have come across a number of sensible political rivals, across the parliaments, who harbour deep concerns about the damage Brexit and this Bill might do and who are committed to working together to minimise this.

Less welcome however, is the continuing reluctance of the Conservative Government to address concerns over aspects of the Withdrawal Bill.

It falls to everyone at the forefront of finding a way out of this mess – the negotiators, the politicians etc – to find a means of mitigating the deep damage that Brexit currently has the potential to inflict on business and the day to day lives of our citizens.